1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to circuitry for controlling a brushless motor (hereinafter referred to as a “BLM”).
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a BLM for driving a blower or a fan for an HVAC, or a pump has been widely used. The use of a BLM is closely related to home and work environments in daily life, including apartments, offices, or factories, etc. A motor for a blower or a fan for an HVAC, or a pump has a significant amount of electric power consumption, which may range from several times to several ten times the amount used in different fields such as, e.g., the field of industrial mechanical devices or machine tools, etc., due in part because such a motor is required to be operated continuously for typically at least several hours or more per day. Therefore, a motor for a blower or a fan for an HVAC, or a pump, which requires a long time or a continuous operation, has a very large amount of energy consumption. Particularly, the electric power consumption required for driving a blower or a fan for an HVAC, or a pump takes a very large portion in a BLM. Further, the use of a BLM affects directly the efficiency and performance of a driving system for an HVAC or a pump.
Accordingly, a motor having high-efficiency for saving energy has been required, and a development of an intelligent control system capable of controlling a motor having high-efficiency conveniently and stably has been required.
In the past, an AC induction motor with an inexpensive and simple structure has been mainly used as a motor having high-efficiency. However, there is a problem that causes an unnecessary over-speed operation and hence a significant loss of electric power because this AC induction motor is difficult to control. For example, it is difficult to control a speed necessarily required for providing an energy saving and convenient operation conditions. Meanwhile, the AC induction motor has used a separate inverter in order to solve this kind of problem. However, the use of a separate inverter causes a noise problem, and has a certain limit in providing a program suitable for various required operation conditions, in addition to a speed controlling, due to a low operation efficiency in terms of economic efficiency (an energy consumption amount compared to costs).
Further, motors for driving a fan using a BLM or an electrically commuted motor (hereinafter referred to “ECM”) have recently been practiced. However, the motors for driving a fan using an ECM are designed to be used mainly as motors for driving simply a compact or low-capacity fan with 100 Watts or less, and thus have a limit in that they are not suitable for an HVAC designed for the use of a high-capacity housing or industrial purpose.
In the meanwhile, technologies relating to an apparatus and a method for controlling an ECM used for an HVAC with a housing and industrial purpose are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,058 (hereinafter referred to “'058 patent”) allowed to William R. Archer, et al. and entitled “Control System and Methods for a Multi-parameter Electronically Commutated Motor.” However, because the control system and methods for a multi-parameter electronically commutated motor disclosed in '058 patent use AC half waves as input signals for various system parameters, use a separate programmable memory for storing the various system parameters, and use separately a complicated circuit such as ASIC, which is used with being connected to a means for sensing a position of a rotor and a current control circuit, the '058 patent has a problem in that an overall system and controlling processes are complicated.
Further, in the control system and methods for the multi-parameter electronically commutated motor disclosed in the '058 patent, since a microprocessor controls an ECM depending on parameter signals pre-stored in the programmable memory, it is impossible to respond properly in real time when, for example, an abnormal operation condition may occur.
Still further, in the control system and methods for the multi-parameter electronically commutated motor disclosed in the '058 patent, the means for sensing the position of a rotor may be made in a sensor-less manner. However, in case of sensing a position of a rotor using this sensor-less manner, there are problems that an unstable transient phenomenon may occur at a startup of the ECM and a high possibility of a mal-operation may occur due to a vulnerability to an electromagnetic noise.
In the meanwhile, conventional control systems of a motor do not have means capable of controlling efficiently a system for driving various kinds of blowers or fans for an HVAC, or a pump, such as means or functions including a non-regulated speed control (NRS) operation function, a regulated speed control (RS) operation function, a constant torque control function, a constant air flow/constant liquid flow control function, a remote communication and monitoring function, a network control means or function capable of controlling a drive of multiple fans or pumps using a mod bus, and a data logging means or function capable of checking operation states or records of a control system for an HVAC or a pump.
Moreover, conventional control systems of a motor have a problem in that they cannot provide the functions described by a single integrated control circuit and program.
The foregoing discussion is to provide background information and does not constitute an admission of prior art.